TV 1762 | Listen to Him Conclusion

You know, there's so many different ways you could go with this, but the very need that we have to hear His voice. I need Him, don't you? Now here's one thing, there's so many different ways, like I said, I could go, God help me to say what you want me to say. But one thing about this is God is going to talk about different things. Like He said, He talked about the need for encouragement. That's a good thing. Oh yes, Lord, encourage me. Give me a verse. Well, He will do that. He knows exactly what we need. And how many times is it we know something, we know it, but yet we need to hear it. It needs to be refreshed in our minds. And I know everyone here who has known the Lord any length of time, and you've walked along, you've been in places in your life where you needed something. You felt your need, and sometimes you open the Bible, and there's a verse that just jumps off the page at you, and it's like God breathes life into that. It's not just words on a page. It's a voice that absolutely breathes life and encouragement to you, right where it meets that particular need. Don't we need that? Isn't that a picture of the relationship the Lord wants? I have a particular need at a particular time, and there He is meeting that need. But suppose I wasn't listening. Suppose I was on my phone all day. Uh-oh. Now I've gone to meddling here. But we are living in a world of voices that will absolutely take us over if we don't realize our need to hear His voice.

I don't mean we go hide in a cave and say, I'm not listening to anything. It means we are so in tune with Him that we can see the other voices. We can evaluate what's going on around us through His light. We can see everything through His eyes. I need to be able to see my own self through His eyes. And of course that brings up, you know, the Lord will certainly give a word of encouragement where that's needed. But how many of us need correction? Like I say, we're little children. We don't get it right. If we didn't need to be changed, what would be the point? I am not like Jesus. I need to be changed to be more like Him. I'm going to have to have Him talk to me when I have a need. And isn't that what He did to the church? Now there was a general need that they needed to address. But the Lord's kind of impressing on me that there is a need that we have as individuals to walk with Him. We think about prayer and thank the Lord for the reality of prayer. We can talk to Him. And we're not just throwing words out there. We're not going through a ritual. He's a real person we're talking to. He is a heavenly Father who loves and who cares and understands and knows right where we're at and loves us anyway. And so we're talking to Him. It's like Joel has said many times, are we listening too? Are we realizing that there are times when He can talk, He can quicken a word to us and help us to understand? God help us to have an ear that says, Lord, I'm not just going to throw, I'm not going

to go through a ritual called prayer here. This is a real conversation that I want to have with you. But when you want to talk to me, I want to be able to hear that. Lord, tune my heart first and then my ears so that when you say something, I can understand it and recognize it and listen to it. And realize that when He talks to me, sometimes He's going to point out things many times that are needs. How many of you really want Him to tell you what's the real deal with you? See, now you're talking about the Lord meddling in uncomfortable ways. But the reality is if there are things that are wrong and He's talking to us about them, I am so thankful that when He talks, He's just not constantly mad with us. What's the matter with you? Straighten up, fly right. I'm so unhappy with you. This is wrong and that's wrong. Straighten it up. No, there's a heart that reaches out, that points out our needs, but does so with a heart of mercy and love. We have to face the reality of our own needs. There are many times there's changes that He wants to bring about in our hearts and in our lives, and we're going like this, and we're busy, and we're doing this, and just not really listening. I think of the prayer of David, Lord, show me Your ways. Search me, O Lord. Talk about uncomfortable prayers, search me, Lord. See if there's any wicked way in me. That would be a good prayer, and the Lord might just answer that, but He's going to do it. There's going to be a quality of love and mercy in His voice when He does. It's always going to be to help and to lift up and to say, I need you to be honest about

this situation. There may be actions you need to take. Maybe there's something in your life that's got too big a place. Your heart's wrapped up in this, and you don't even realize the hold that it has on you. I need to be able to put my finger on that, but I need your heart and your ears tuned so that I can actually talk to you about it, and then find a willingness. But the thing is, when He shows us a need, He's not standing back and saying, fix it. Thank God. He's going to point us to Jesus. He's going to point us to the power of the resurrection and say, I have already met this need. What I need for you to know is to realize it, to hand the problem over to me, to be honest about it. Bring it to me. Know that I love you. Know that the reason I pointed out this need in you is because I love you, and I have the answer, and I want to bring you to a better, stronger, freer place in me. I wonder if the Lord just pulled the veil back, how many of us would find that we're in a lot more bondage than we realize. Anybody here need the Lord to talk to you? Yeah. But oh, how we're afraid. Oh, how human nature resists the idea of God shining a light. You remember how John talked about walking in the light? We've used that particular picture before. But the light shows up things that we might not want to see. If you have a dirty face, you can kind of hide in the corners, in the shadows, but to step out into the light and let that be clear and evident, and you can't hide it anymore. But here's the Lord wanting us to come out into the light, not because He wants to humiliate us, make us feel bad.

It's never with that kind of heart. His heart is always, I want to cleanse you. And He offers that. If we confess our sin, He is what? Faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If you're dirty this morning, don't be afraid to come into the light because He loves you and He has the answer for your heart and your life. When He speaks, listen. Isn't that the message? We looked in the Old Testament and we saw the message that Jesus, about Jesus. Listen to Him. Listen to Him. And I feel like as a church, we are certainly in a place where we need to listen to Him. But if we're just kind of going along and thinking everything is basically okay, are we really gaining ground or are we just sort of treading water? We need to be saying, God, we see needs. We see possibilities. We don't know what Your plan is. We want You. We want You to dwell in our midst. We see things in Scripture where You have recorded for us what Your plan is for Your people. To dwell in the midst of a people, to act, to stretch forth Your hand when it's needed, to bring people to a place of freedom. But how can we do it if our ears aren't tuned and we're not reaching out to Him and saying, oh God, speak to me. I am not going to be afraid for You to point the things out in my life that You want to help me with and to be honest with them, about them. Does any of this matter? Is any of this relevant to our lives right now?

here right now? What are we going to do about it? Are we afraid to ask him? Afraid to listen? Or are we just so tuned in to what's around us? And I'll tell you, there are so many voices. You start saying, oh God, I want to hear your voice. Well, there are a lot of voices that will come along and say, this is me. And it ain't. That was what was going on with some of these churches. They thought they were hearing from God and it wasn't the Lord. We're going to need to cry out to him and say, oh God, I want only your voice, but I don't know how to tell the difference. I need you to give me a spirit of discernment and wisdom. Now what happens when we ask for wisdom? What's God's attitude about that? Anybody think of a scripture? Yep. That comes from James chapter one. Yeah. Anybody asks, lacks wisdom, ask of God. He gives to all freely, liberally, without finding fault. That's exactly right. He's not saying, what's the matter with you? I thought you knew all that stuff. Quit bothering me. That's the thing he longs for us to come to him and say, Lord, I have a need. I care about you. You need my wisdom. You're walking in the wisdom of all the junk that's going on down there. And I have so much for you and I want you to have it. But we also need to ask with an honest, open heart that's committed to following it. We don't say, Lord, lay your cards on the table and I'll decide. There's a commitment to say, Lord, if you speak to me and it's clear, that ends the discussion. I want what you want. I am not going to be a double-minded person where I want this and I want that and I'm just going to try to fit it all together somehow. I need your voice to speak to me. And I'll tell you, there's a God that we have that knows exactly what we need, but oh, his heart. I think that's something he wants us to realize because the devil will do everything he can to either disguise himself as the Lord's voice or to make us afraid of it. And we don't have to be afraid. You know, I thought about another scripture later in the book of James. Let's see if I can find it real quick. James chapter three, it's the part where James is talking about our tongues and all of that. But there's a spirit of wisdom. When God's wisdom, and we've heard from him and the wisdom that we have is coming from him, there's a certain characteristic of that wisdom, isn't there? Who is wise, verse 13, and understanding among you, let him show it by their good life, let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. Well, if we got God's wisdom, it's not going to make us proud, is it? We're going to realize,

hey, I don't know anything and he loves me enough to share his heart. Praise God. I'm going to take that place. All right? And be so thankful. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, don't boast about it or deny the truth. Such wisdom does not come down from heaven, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. But listen to what he says down in 17 here, what James says, but the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all, pure and peace loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere, peacemakers who sow in peace, reap a harvest of righteousness. I'll tell you, it's not just the words that are spoken, it's the one speaking the words in his heart, in his nature, that we need to learn how to recognize. You think of what Jesus said, we've referred to these things so many times. But was Jesus calling people to be yoked to him so that they could feel like slaves with their lives ruined by an evil taskmaster? No, they were to find rest for their souls. Learn from me, he said. My yoke is easy, my burden is light. There's a heart that is behind it when God speaks to us. And even when he needs to rebuke us, and we need, anybody here need rebuking sometimes? We all need correcting. But the heart behind it, even if he has to speak plainly, is you need to face this. You need to look in the mirror and say, yes, it's me Lord, but I recognize your heart in telling me about this. You tell me so that I can come to you and be honest with you and you can cleanse it and set me free and give me a peace in my heart so that I can go forward without carrying that burden. Oh Lord, help me. Help me this day to gain a measure of freedom that I didn't have yesterday just by listening to you and walking with you. I may not need some special revelation today, but just the sense that I'm listening Lord. My heart is surrendered to you. I want your wisdom and not the world's wisdom. And I'm asking you Lord just to give me a sense to where I can look and listen and see what's going on around me, but I can see it through your eyes. I can hear it through your ears.

I can recognize the spirit behind it. I'll tell you another principle that just crossed my mind. Well, we think, let me say this. We think about asking wisdom as some big decision that we got to make in our life. Okay, where am I going to live? Who am I going to marry? What's my career going to be? Should I change jobs? And we think about these big events in our lives. Folks, I need wisdom to handle the small situations that come. I need wisdom not to know how to straighten out somebody so they won't bother me so much. I need wisdom to know how to handle it so that I can be more like Him. I need wisdom in all the little things of my life and the Lord can bring those truths to our heart and we can find rest in our souls that Jesus promised. Oh, I'll tell you, the wisdom encompasses so much more than just these big changes in our lives. But I started to say that one principle that can sometimes come into play, certainly where there's something big or something that involves a lot of people, in the mouth of two or three witnesses, let every word be established. And we're not going to be in a situation where there's one person that says, I'm hearing from God. Everybody else, shut up and listen. Now, they might not put it that way, but there's an awful lot of that in religion, folks. If we have God actually speaking to us and giving us direction and wisdom, it's going to be a peaceable witness to the body of Christ. And there will be others who will be able to judge and say, yes, the Lord's saying the same. I feel a peace in what you're saying. I don't want any ... I don't think anybody would feel this way, but I certainly don't want anybody looking to me and saying, oh, whatever Phil says, I need whatever he says.

And he is faithful and he's promised to dwell in our midst. The real thing is, do we really want him? Do we want him to dwell in our midst? And many times, I sort of alluded to this earlier, the Lord will indeed bring situations into our lives. And I mentioned how Paul would leave what was behind, needed to be left behind. He would leave that and he would reach for something else. But in the process, here's God saying, okay, there's my servant Paul and he's at a certain place in his life and there's a need I see. How can I deal with this? Of course, he's not asking the question like he can't figure it out. But then he absolutely ... he called Paul to experience something and it was the thorn, what we call the thorn in the flesh. There's a lot of debate about what that is and that's not important. Whatever it was, it was a need. It was a problem. It was something that bothered Paul a lot and he had to deal with it. So what did he do? Well, he prayed. Well, that's good. That's right. And he kept on praying. You know, God speaking to us is not just some little thing that just, okay, Lord, I need a word. Many times there's waiting and there's just trusting and there's looking to God and walking by faith and realizing that if he doesn't speak to me immediately, it's not because he doesn't care. It's because he's doing something in the process. And so Paul had to go through a season there where he was just going to God. But what was the end of the issue?

The Lord said. The Lord spoke. There was a time when there was a word of wisdom that came to his heart. And he said, oh, I get it. He wants me to understand something about myself. I value strength. If I'm going to serve God, I need to be strong. But he didn't realize the strength he was depending on was coming from him. And there was a temptation because he had experienced some amazing revelations. And oh, how. Human nature wants to jump in there and say, oh, it must be because I'm special. And the Lord had to say, wait a minute, that's not what this is about. And Paul had to learn a principle that was, that became very important in his life. This was way into his ministry, I'm sure. That when I'm weak, I'm strong. Boy, you don't get that from the bookstore. From the human, from the television, unless you happen to have a servant of God that's talking about it, but you don't get that from the world's wisdom. Weakness is actually strength. It's not that, not weakness, but it's my attempt to be strong. I need His strength. His strength is made complete when I just present myself and say, Lord, I can't do this, but You can. I just want to listen to Your voice and obey what You say and trust You. That's what God is seeking to bring in every one of us, and not one of us is that way naturally. And if the Lord's going to do something, He's going to have to take us down the trail step by step by step by step. But coming back to the theme, if I'm going to walk with Him and not just with a book, I'm going to walk with Him and get to know Him. I'm going to have to learn how to recognize His voice.

To desire it, first of all, but then when He speaks to recognize, there's a peaceableness about that. It's in harmony with what He says. It bears witness to others that this is right. Thank God for that wisdom, and then I'm going to have to walk in it. If He puts His finger on something, I can't say, oh no, it's their fault, which is what we do. We deflect when God shines a light in certain areas. But I want to have the heart that David expressed that we referred to a while ago. Search me, oh Lord. I need to be transparent before you. I need to have an ear that wants to hear your voice, that knows I need to hear your voice, that knows when you speak to me, it's your heart of love and mercy that's doing it. It's not something I have to be afraid of. Something I need to value because you're going to bring me to a stronger, more peaceable place with a deeper relationship with you. You're delivering me from the wisdom of this world. You're delivering me from myself. That's the biggest deliverance. I don't need deliverance from all the bad circumstances in my life and all the bad people. I need deliverance from me because I might be surrounded by bad people, but if I got Him with me and He's working in me, they might kill me, but I'm going to come out the winner because of Him. I'll tell you, do you really believe God loves you? Do you believe He has the wisdom that you need in your life? Do you believe He has every resource that you need? Wouldn't it be a good idea to reach out to Him? And I mean in a personal sense, but in a general sense. Do we really cry out to God and say, oh God, we're not satisfied. I need to hear your voice.

What's lacking? I need to hear your voice. What's lacking? Change me. Bring us to a place where you can be more free to operate and to work. Set people free. Set me free, Lord. Set me free from all the strongholds that the enemy has got in there. The place is a bondage. I need to be set free in a deeper way. God, do whatever you need to do, but I've got to have an ear that hears your voice. And I'll tell you, if He has a people that He has their ear, there's nothing He can't do. There's nothing that's impossible with Him. I'll tell you, may God bless each and every one today. This has been a little scattered in a way, but I believe the Lord has said what He wants to say. And there may be others that the Lord would quicken something to, but let's ask God to help us to listen. Let's ask God to help us to listen. Maybe that's a good ... Well, I'm thinking about a title. Maybe just as simple as listen. Because that's a pretty key component of serving the Lord in the world. It's not just more than just read the book, study it, practice the religion. It's, listen, I'm a person. I want to talk to you. I have what you need, and it's very individual. It's right where you are in your journey. Listen. I love you. Praise God. Here's the news.

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